A word that reads the same forwards and backwards, like “level,” is called a palindrome. The defining feature is that the sequence of letters remains identical when reversed, usually ignoring capitalization and punctuation when phrases are involved.
The word palindrome was introduced in English by poet Henry Peacham in 1638. It comes from Greek roots meaning “again” and “way” or “direction.” The idea itself is much older: the Sator Square, a Latin word square from the first century CE, is among the earliest surviving examples connected with palindrome-like word play.
Palindromes are not limited to single words. “Civic,” “radar,” “rotor,” “kayak,” and “madam” are word examples, while “A man, a plan, a canal, Panama” is a famous phrase. Numbers and dates can also be palindromic; February 2, 2020, written as 02/02/2020, was a notable example. A palindrome is different from an anagram: an anagram rearranges letters into a new order, while a palindrome preserves the same order in reverse.